It is known to combine articles into a group of articles and from the groups of articles to produce firm and/or transportable storage and transport units or bundles by using shrink films. However, a disadvantage of shrink films is that the films used, and the need to use heat or other forms of energy for shrinking-on of the films causes considerable expense. U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,464 provides an example of this approach.
It is also known to produce transportable bundles by strapping containers together into a bundle, for example by using strapping that encompasses the container group in the manner of a loop. This is a particularly inexpensive and simple way of producing bundles or transport and storage units. The strapping can also be bonded with the containers. DE102009025824, DE10209044271, and DE4126212 provide examples of this approach.
One disadvantage of strapping however, is that when a container is first removed from such a bundle, the remaining containers in the bundle are no longer held together by the strapping. This is the case not only when the strapping is removed or cut but also when one removes a container from the pack without severing the strapping.
Moreover transporting such bundles on a belt conveyor often presents the danger that cylindrical or chiefly cylindrical articles, such as cans, bottles or containers, assume a nesting position, i.e. slip into a gap in the adjacent row, due to vibration, impacts etc. With known packs, a very high tension must be applied to the strapping in order to avoid this.
DE102006037105 teaches combining of bottle packets in which a rotary star wheel that presses bottle necks into clips on flat carriers is provided on both sides of a track. The bottle packet is also wrapped with a film, such as a tape or an envelope.
According to DE2331193, an adhesive is applied to containers in narrow surfaces or rows, with contiguous surfaces that are not provided with adhesive being intended to facilitate a gripping of the packing for carrying purposes. The containers stick to one another at the adhesive points. EP 2096039 also relates to containers being provided with an adhesive, with a shrink film also being disposed around the bottle packet however.